Educational Science

Space Robots to the Rescue! How NASA Will Service Aging Satellites

Uncrewed satellites orbiting Earth and other planets in the solar system travel at thousands of miles per hour, their missions spanning years or even decades. They were built to last on their own, but how might space agencies service them if parts break down, or if they run low on...

Why Can't You Shake Hands with a Robot?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. It's quite common for humans – especially those who work in manufacturing – to tie a knot, strip the casing off a cable, insert a pin in a hole...

For the first time, robots have successfully performed a tricky, delicate operation that helped implant a hearing device into a deaf woman's ear, according to a new study. A 51-year-old woman who was completely deaf in both ears due to a rare autoimmune disease underwent an operation to receive a...

Magnetic Robot Can Perform Colonoscopies

CHICAGO — In the future, robots may perform your colonoscopy: Scientists have developed a robot that can perform complex colonoscopy maneuvers in experiments on pigs. Dr. Keith Obstein, the lead author of a new report on the robot and an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in...

Please and Thank You: How DARPA Is Teaching Robots Manners

Humans know to silence a ringing phone when they're in a quiet library, and to say thank you after someone lends a helping hand. Now, robots will learn this etiquette as well, thanks to a research project that aims to teach robots manners. By teaching robots such social norms, researchers...

Mail Dog: Robotic Dog 'Spot' Could Deliver Your Next Package

While some companies are researching how to use drones or autonomous vehicles to deliver goods to customers, one company has trained a robotic dog to do the job. Spot is a four-legged, canine-like machine created by the Google-owned technology firm Boston Dynamics. The robot was first introduced in a 2015...

Soft 3D-Printed Robot Is Agile Even on Sand and Rocks

As a headless robot crawls over a pile of pebbles, its jointless, rubbery legs carefully but confidently sample the terrain in steady, yet unrushed movements that resemble a turtle's. The robot's ability to reliably walk across different types of surfaces is unique, and so is the fact that its elaborately...

Robotic Exosuits Help Workers Lift Heavy Loads

Employees at a Lowe's hardware store in Christiansburg, Virginia, recently channeled Ellen Ripley in the 1986 movie Aliens, as they donned mechanical exoskeletons to help them lift and move heavy objects. The wearable robotic suits — which are significantly lighter and less cumbersome than the forklift with legs that Ripley...

R2-D2 Gets Real: 'Star Wars' Droids Already Exist

'Star Wars' Droids R2-D2 is a so-called astromech droid in the 'Star Wars' films. (Image credit: Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox/The Walt Disney Company)It's safe to say that the robots from the Star Wars movies have left a huge cultural impact. Even people who aren't diehard fans will likely remember C-3PO, R2-D2...

'Mating' Robots Take a Fast-Forward Leap in Digital Darwinism

We might as well just give up control over the planet right now. In recently published research, scientists detail a set of experiments in which robots — real, physical machines — improved themselves through a kind of digital Darwinism. The bots, each drawing from a collective gene pool, competed with...